Square Enix

Say Whatcha Wanna About Final Fantasy XIII, You Can’t Deny Its Amazing Soundtrack

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re continuing to indulge my terminal case of Final Fantasy brain with a deep dive into Final Fantasy XIII’s mold-breaking soundtrack. I’m not here to discuss the merits of Final Fantasy XIII (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) itself,…

Square Enix: Don’t Send Us Valentine’s Chocolate Because Covid-19

Each year, fans send Valentine chocolates to Square Enix. Some are addressed to characters while others are for the game creators. It’s a way to say thanks. But this year, Square Enix is asking for fans to refrain. As Jiji reports, Square Enix posted a notice on its official site, citing the state of emergency…

Final Fantasy XIV‘s Next Expansion Drops This Fall With A New Healing Class

During tonight’s Final Fantasy XIV showcase, Square Enix announced its next expansion, Endwalker, for release this fall. As usual, the update includes a bunch of stuff, the most noteworthy being the enigmatic Sage, the first new healing-focused job since the Astrologian was added to the MMORPG in 2015’s Heavensward expansion. Final Fantasy XIV players will…

Yoko Taro Thinks Nier Violates Square Enix’s Own Guidelines For Fan Creations

Square Enix has published Japanese-language guidelines for derivative fan creations. These guidelines cover Nier Replicant, Nier Gestalt, Nier: Automata, Nier Re[in]carnation, and Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139… In short, all the Nier games! As noted on Inside, these guidelines are broken down into several points, prohibiting things like payment for fan work, the use of Nier assets…

Hitman Studio’s Project 007 Will Feature A New James Bond

When Hitman developer IO Interactive’s James Bond game (working title Project 007) hits the scene, it will do so with an entirely new James Bond, studio head Hakan Abrak told the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (h/t TheGamer). Project 007 will follow James Bond in his early days as a British Secret Service agent, portraying the events…

Hitman 3 Is The Latest Game To Acknowledge Covid-19

Agent 47 isn’t the deadliest force of nature in Hitman 3. Covid-19 is. Yes, IO Interactive’s murdery sandbox is the latest video game to acknowledge the pandemic that has infected nearly 100 million people, killed more than 2 million, and upended life as we know it. In the game’s first level, the Dubai-set “On Top…

Hitman 3 Is Off To A Rocky Start

You’ve probably heard this one before. A buzzy game hits the market. It demands some degree of internet connection. Everyone flocks to play on day one, only to hit a series of frustrating roadblocks. Online connectivity is shaky, if functional at all. There are issues with save data and character progression. Some players spring for…

How To Ensure Your Old Hitman Data Follows You To Hitman 3

Hitman 3, out today for pretty much all of the platforms, sees Agent 47 continue his spree of heinous crimes, including murder and travel journalism. Like the previous entry in IO Interactive’s sumptuous Savile Row simulator, you can import levels and character progression from prior games. It’s only a matter of knowing what to do—and…

To Get Into Hitman Games, Try Starting With Hitman 2

Hitman 3 is out today. And while it’s pretty different from previous games in the rebooted trilogy, it’s still a lot of fun. If you’re new to the series or coming back from a while away, should you jump right into 3 or start with the earlier games? Personally, I’d say you’d be fine just…

Balan Wonderworld, the upcoming game from the creators of Sonic and Nights, will get a demo on January 28. It’ll include two-play coop and let you test out a bunch of the game’s different levels.

PC Players Will Have To Buy Hitman 2 All Over Again To Unlock Its Levels In Hitman 3 (Update: A Fix Is In The Works)

IO Interactive outlined how levels and progress will be carried over to Hitman 3 from the previous games in a complicated FAQ over on its website today, and it’s a mess for players on PC seemingly thanks to Epic Games Store and Steam not playing nice with each other. Update – 4:08 p.m. ET, 1/17/21:…

Game Pass Is Still Missing Most Of The Final Fantasy Games Microsoft Promised

At the end of 2019, Microsoft announced 10 Final Fantasy games would come to Game Pass in the following year. At the start of 2021 most of them are still missing, though Microsoft says they’ll get there eventually. During the X019 livestream event in London near the tail end of 2019, Microsoft announced a bunch…

20 Years Later I’m Still Thinking About The Bouncer

Sometimes a piece of pop culture worms its way into your brain, builds a comfortable, cost-efficient home in your cerebral cortex, and lives there happily for decades on end. My own tenant is The Bouncer, an odd beat ‘em up by Square Soft, which came out in Japan 20 years ago today before fading into…

And Now The Moment Avengers Players Have Been Waiting For

Shield refraction, everybody. Thanks to community feedback, Iron Man can now bounce his Unibeam off Captain America’s shield in Marvel’s Avengers, amplifying the beam’s damage. As it should be. It’s a classic Marvel Comics combo move, one you’d think would be a no-brainer for inclusion in a cooperative multiplayer-focused game. It’s okay; Developer Crystal Dynamics…

Square Enix’s Project Athia Is Console Exclusive On PS5 For ‘At Least 24 Months’

Project Athia, the next game from the team behind Final Fantasy XV, will be console-exclusive to the PlayStation 5 for “at least 24 months,” a new Sony demo reel of upcoming games revealed. Little is known about Project Athia (apparently a working title) apart from it being some sort of fantastical action game from Square…

Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida discusses his career in a thirty-minute YouTube documentary. It’s an interesting look into what makes Yoshida tick as he speaks in-depth about his work and the future of games. 

SaGa Frontier Is Getting A Remaster

Square Enix announced a remaster of 1998 PlayStation game SaGa Frontier today, coming summer 2021. SaGa Frontier Remastered will be available on Switch, PS4, Steam, iOS, and Android. In a tweet, the developer says the remaster will feature “updated graphics, events, cutscenes, enhancements, (and a new protagonist!).” Here are the full details from the YouTube…

Marvel’s Avengers Didn’t Sell As Expected, Says Square Enix

Earlier this month in Japan, Square Enix held a briefing for investors. This week, the Tokyo-based game company finally released an official transcript of the meeting. During the presentation, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda said, “The HD Games subsegment posted an operating loss as initial sales of Marvel’s Avengers were lower than we had expected…

From Xenogears To Xenoblade: The History Of Monolith Soft

If you’d told me back in 2006 that Monolith Soft would go on to become one of Nintendo’s most talented and indispensable first-party development groups, I would have said the same thing as everyone else: “The guys who did Xenosaga?” It’s an old joke at this point, but for years that was Monolith Soft’s reputation:…

Square Enix Aims For Work-Life Balance With Permanent Work-From-Home Option

In Japan, the global pandemic has led to some—but certainly not all—Japanese companies have employees work from home. Square Enix wants to make this choice permanent for its employees. “Rather than utilizing work from home solely as a means of preventing infections during the current pandemic, the Company will establish it as a permanent and…